


Above Ground

by twisting_vine_x



Series: Scratching Out A Life [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Bokuto Koutarou/Akaashi Keiji - Freeform, Chikara Ennoshita, F/F, Gen, Kei Tsukishima/Tadashi Yamaguchi, Kinoshita Hisashi - Freeform, M/M, Narita Kazuhito - Freeform, Tears, Zombie AU, tanaka ryuunosuke - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:10:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7711036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twisting_vine_x/pseuds/twisting_vine_x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: The actual mission, with some of the team above ground, and some of the team left behind to sit and listen on the other side of the walkie-talkies. Written from Shouyou's POV, and mostly focusing on IwaOi, KurooKen, UkaTake, KiyoYachi, and KageHina.</p><p>
  <i>The plan should be pretty straightforward. Ukai's in charge of one team, with Kuroo in charge of another, and Takeda and Kenma on the other side of the walkie-talkies, guiding them through as best he can. Shouyou can imagine what kind of maze the theme park would be, and the fact that they'd managed to push in far enough to get maps, at one point, is still a miracle. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Iwaizumi almost hadn't made it back from that one.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The thought's enough to make his stomach turn. If anyone had ever told him that he'd ever care about the great king, he'd have wanted to punch them. But Oikawa looks horrible, like a breeze would bowl him right over, and Shouyou's having trouble looking at him. He hadn't known it was possible for someone to be that pale.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Above Ground

Shouyou can feel how hard his heart's beating.  
  
Beside him, Kageyama's practically digging grooves into the table with his fingers. Shouyou stares at that white-knuckled grip for a moment, and then looks up, though, it's hard to meet anyone's eyes. Kenma barely looks like he's breathing, where he's sitting over his map, one of the walkie-talkies pressed to ear. There's a tightness to his expression that Shouyou can't look at, so he ends up staring at Takeda, instead, but... that's not better. He's practically statue still, absolutely motionless, and Shouyou wouldn't be surprised if Takeda's going to leave marks in his walkie-talkie, too.  
  
This isn't easy on any of them. He knows it's not. And he doesn't want to think about what he'd be like, right now, if Kageyama was out there instead of sitting beside him.  
  
The plan should be pretty straightforward. Ukai's in charge of one team, with Kuroo in charge of another, and Takeda and Kenma on the other side of the walkie-talkies, guiding them through as best he can. Shouyou can imagine what kind of maze the theme park would be, and the fact that they'd managed to push in far enough to get maps, at one point, is still a miracle.  
  
Iwaizumi almost hadn't made it back from that one.  
  
The thought's enough to make his stomach turn. If anyone had ever told him that he'd ever care about the great king, he'd have wanted to punch them. But Oikawa looks horrible, like a breeze would bowl him right over, and Shouyou's having trouble looking at him, too. He hadn't known it was possible for someone to be that pale.   
  
He hates all of this. And he gets why they're doing this. A theme park, with buildings and high fences - if they can take that, they can move back above ground.  
  
But Ukai, Kuroo, Iwaizumi, Bokuto, Akaashi, Daichi, Sugawara, Asashi, Nishinoya, Kiyoko and Tanaka are all out there, risking everything to get them this chance, and when Yachi stirs beside him - Shouyou's been carefully not looking at her - Shouyou swallows and finally makes his hand work, his fingers finding hers in between their bodies.  In response he gets a grip that's probably going to break his own hand, her fingers squeezing down right on his as she moves closer, but that's okay. He can't really help her right now - only Kiyoko coming back will do that - but he needs to do something.   
  
And then there's a new crackle of static, and Shouyou realizes how badly he's shaking. They've had about ten minutes of radio silence, at this point, from both teams. It had been planned, but still terrifying.  
  
"We're at the carousel. North-west side."  
  
Kuroo's voice cracks on it, in a way that Shouyou's pretty sure has nothing to do with the walkietalkie static. His stomach clenches at the slight shake to Kenma's lip.  
  
"Left - go left. North, towards the ferris wheel. There should be a maintenance shed there."  
  
“Roger.”  
  
He sounds about as bad as Kenma does, and Shouyou's hand find Kageyama's, on the other side of him. He's probably going to end up with both hands broken, before this is over, but that's okay. He's got Kageyama right here beside him, which means he has nothing to complain about right now.

It's going to be a long night.

\- - -

About three hours later finds Shouyou sitting at one of the tables with his face in his hands.

Yachi and Kageyama are still sitting with him, and pretty much everyone is motionless. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are over in one of the corners, leaning side-by-side against the wall and staring down at the ground. Ennoshita, Narita and Kinoshita are all sitting on the ground on the other side of the room, arms wrapped around their legs, and Takeda and Kenma are still bent over their maps with their expressions strained and their shoulders tight in a way that looks pretty painful.

Oikawa's the only one moving. Pacing back and forth in a small open space beside the tables, like he can't stay still. The sound of his feet across the stone floor is making Shouyou want to scream.

They've had to listen to the fighting without being able to do anything. Shouyou's pretty sure he's going to have nightmares about this night for a long time.

“Doing okay, Keishin?”

Takeda's voice is strained close to breaking. There's a rasp of air from the other end of the walkie-talking, something that sounds utterly exhausted, and Shouyou leans a bit harder against Kageyama.

He _hates_ this.

“Gotta be, don't I? Can't leave you to raise all those kids yourself.”

Ukai's voice breaks a bit on it, like his throat's almost too tight to speak, and the sound that Takeda makes sound like something between a laugh and tears, even as he closes his eyes and presses the walkie-talkie harder against his ear, and Shouyou squeezes his own eyes shut because watching him hurts.

“Damn – damn right you can't, you slacker. Now... now go left, after the next building, there's –”

A burst of noise from Kenma's walkie-talkie cuts Takeda off, and it takes Shouyou a second to realize that Kuroo's yelling, fear laced through every frantic inch of his voice.

It's like every vein in his body runs ice cold.

“Kuroo! Kuroo, are you –”

Kenma's on his feet, clutching at the walkie-talkie, eyes wide as he cuts himself off at a string of curses from Kuroo. He sounds like he's running, like he's thrown all thoughts of secrecy away.

“Dammit, _dammit,_ we – Hajime, he's –”

The walkie-talkie goes silent.

For a long, terrible moment, there's not a sound in the room. Shouyou can feel the walls crushing in on him, like the concrete's started folding closer, curling in to squeeze the air right out of his lungs. Then, Takeda's scrambling for his walkie-talkie, bumping against Kenma as he leans over his map.

“ _Keishin,_ the others, they're –”

“Where –”

“Ferris wheel. West, about a 100 metres, they – they're –”

“On it.”

The line drops into silence again, absolutely not a sound as Ukai disconnects, and Shouyou can't take his eyes off Kenma, who's staring at the walkie-talkie as though he doesn't understand what he's looking at; and then Oikawa moves so suddenly Shouyou jumps, adrenaline racing through him as Oikawa steps forward, looking like he wants to reach out and grab the walkie-talkie from Kenma.

“Get him back.” He sounds frantic. Looks it, too, with his eyes wide and his skin gone completely devoid of colour, fingers twitching into fists at his sides. “Please, _please,_ get him back, we need to –”

It's Takeda who moves, standing and putting a hand on his shoulder. Oikawa doesn't take his eyes off Kenma, though, who's staring right back at him, now, the non-expression on his face somehow just as horrible at the desperation on Oikawa's; and Shouyou wants to crawl into a hole, because _what if Kuroo and Iwaizumi aren't okay._

It's Takeda who finally swallows, reaching down to tug Oikawa's hand off the map, where the paper's crumpling under his fist. Shouyou hadn't even realized he'd reached out to grab it.

“We'll get him back.” It's remarkably steady, all things considered. Shouyou almost believes him. “We'll get them all back. Now, I need you to –” The walkie-talkie crackles in his hand, and Takeda jumps so bad he almost drops it, fumbling to bring it up to his hear. “Keishin, jesus, are you –”

“Keishin's fine.” It's Kuroo's voice, ragged like he's been yelling, and Shouyou doesn't miss the small whimper that spills out of Kenma. Doesn't miss the way Kenma flinches as he folds down over the table and puts his face in his arms, even as Kuroo keeps talking, sounding like he's exhausted right through. “He's fine, we're _all_ fine, Hajime's okay, it's – we _did_ it, jesus, we've – the part of the park that we needed, it – it's secure, we actually _did_ it, we –” He cuts himself off, because there's a noise like a whoop, and when Kuroo laughs, it sounds both affectionate and like he's close to tears. “Fucking _Bo,_ he's climbing the damn carousel, what an _ass_ , he's – okay, Keiji's gone up after him, jesus – jesus fuck, guys, w-we actually _did_ it, the park is _ours,_ it's –”

Whatever he says next, Shouyou doesn't hear it, because Oikawa moves so suddenly he stumbles into the table behind him, his hands balled into fists at his sides as he turns and walks out of the room, not saying a word as he goes. Shouyou doesn't get a look at his face, but he can imagine.

_He's fine, we're all fine, Hajime's okay._

Something inside him is unravelling, like he's able to breathe again – _they're okay, they're all okay, they made it, everyone made it_ – and when Yachi moves beside him, he turns to find her with her hands over her face and her shoulders shaking, though she's not making any noise. For a moment, Shouyou's frozen, and then he carefully wraps his arms around her, holding on tight even as he glances back over at Kenma, who's straightened back up and is eyeing the walkie-talkie in Takeda's hand, his eyes so wide it's almost a bit scary; and then Kuroo's voice crackles through again, and Shouyou almost feels bad for hearing it, because it's so emotionally raw it sounds like it should only be for Kenma alone.

“I'll be home soon, kitten.”

He sounds like he's smiling, even through the ragged catch to his voice – sounds like he's in tears but still smiling – and when the line drops into silence again, Kenma doesn't move, for a moment, until he sinks back into his chair and buries his face in his arms, shaking so badly Shouyou can see him all the way from across the table. For a few more seconds, nobody says a word, and then Takeda sits down, too, and puts a hand on Kenma's shoulder, though his other hand is still wrapped around the walkie-talkie and his eyes are still on the map. Far below them, Shouyou's suddenly aware the generators are whirring away, over the crushing silence; and it's like the sound drives it home, like he suddenly gets it all at once.

Everyone's okay. And they're going to be able to move back above ground.

He realizes that he's shaking, and when Kageyama wraps his arms around both him and Yachi, his entire body trembling just about as badly as Shouyou's, Shouyou swallows and squeezes his eyes shut as he presses closer, tucking his face against Kageyama's chest without saying a word.


End file.
